Have you ever heard of this?

My nephew is 3 months old and exclusively breastfed. His pediatrician told my sister in law it is okay if he goes 10 days without pooping. I am asking this in this forum where it will be seen by the most people. Do you think this info is corrrect? 10 days sounds awfully long. TIA!

 

Yes, my boys were ebf and my ped as well as my friend who's nursed 4 both told me up to 14 days were a ok. Coupled with that, mine would do a week plus without pooping for a while. I'd have to write it on a calendar to remind myself. Breast milk digests very differently from formula and solids.

 

I have a friend whose one son was ebf and he would do this.. He'd go 10-14 days without pooping, and then when he would go it was all over the place a real mess! I've also read that this can be normal on nursing mom sites like Kellymom.com So yup, the ped is right. Most nursing babies, though, seem to poop almost every feeding... so I can understand why a lot of moms would question that.

 

Ya. I was shocked too, but I have heard it's normal

 

I'm wondering if it's a boy thing? I had 2 of my 3 boys that went that long in between. ardon: It's obviously ok, just different when you have one pooping 3x/day and one pooping every 10ish days.

 

It is totally ok and normal, especially if he is breastfed. My twins would sometimes go this long without a number 2. Then, around 5 months old, they became much more regular, like once a day (we transitioned to formula around then). Apparently, breastmilk doesn't produce as much waste as formula does.

 

See, everything says it's normal, but something about just doesn't sit right with me. Maybe becuase I had a co-worker who lost her son at 9 days old becuase of this. The Dr.'s all kept telling her it was normal for him not to poop, etc... Turned out he had a hole in his intestine and all his waste was leaking right back into his body and he died from this. My co-worker STAYED in the hospital those 9 days becuase she kept telling the Dr.'s "someting is NOT right with my son, something is wrong", She had a sister who was a NICU nurse and kept telling her to have her son tested. No one would run test though becuase they kept telling her it was normal and she was just being an overly anxious first time mother. BTW he was a full term, otherwise healthy baby.


Not to scare anyone or anything - but I just don't agree with this. When my son waited 2 days, I was in the peds office asking for something to make him poop, even if just a drop, to make sure he was OKAY.

 

I'm sorry about your friend. That was really devestating for his mother I'm sure, especially since she had an instinct about it. However, his very rare condition doesn't negate the fact that this is a very normal thing for breastfed babies. And if a baby is chronically given something to help him/her poop it can really be a bad thing in the long run. Babies who are given either stimulation or extra fiber in the form of corn syrup or prune juice can eventually become dependent on these things in order to poop. So if a baby's normal pattern is to go every 10 days, and a mother stimulates him to go instead of waiting it out on a constant basis it can actually set the child up for pooping problems...a self-perpetuating cycle. Your friend's ds had a condition far more rare than the condition of a bf baby waiting 10 days to poop... I would just hate for a mom to become parinoid because of one rare anecdote.

I think any bf mom who has concerns over this issue...especially moms who have newborns who haven't pooped in a normal pattern, as explained in all the literature they give you in the hospital really should consult their doctor about it. But not necessarily get too anxious over it... babies who develop this pooping every 10 day thing tend to be at least a few weeks old when they slow down their bowel movements..it's not something that starts from birth before a mother's milk is well established... So babies should still be pooping out all the meconium and having the black, then green then brown then yellow stools of the first few days. It sounds as if your friend did not have this experience. But the OP is talking about a 3 month old who clearly has normal bowels evidenced by pooping since birth! Anyway, just wanted to clarify that your friend's situation is clearly different from when most moms start to see this occur in their bf babies...not for weeks or even a month or two into the breastfeeding experience.

 

It is totally normal. I had a kid (boy) who would go twice a day. My girl however would go once every 8 days or so. Exclusively breastfed babies can have a bm every 14 days with no issues. Breastmilk is so nicely digested that there can be no waste. Like the pp stated though, if you rely on other methods to get him to go, he'll come to rely on them, which is not good.

 

This is what I was thinking as well. I read in a magazine yesterday that mom's intuition is right like 95% of the time. Clearly that baby dying is a tragedy, but does not negate the norm for ebf babies.

 

Yes, normal for some kids. I nursed all of my kids...and 2 of them went 5-10 days each time in between. I initially blamed constipation for the crabbiness, but it really was the food allergies/upset tummy that was the problem for the crankies. When I ate how I should, they still went that long and no longer were cranky :good:

 

I have read that this is normal for EBF babies. My twins were never like this, though. We had lots of poop, usually multiple times a day.

 

Matthew regularly goes 8 or more days without pooping. The pedi says it's fine as long as it is still loose. I do give him a glycerin suppository if he seems uncomfortable though!

 

Ditto Melissa. I have had some babies who didn't poop for days and days and days. It was fine and I wasn't worried, but once in awhile it really seemed to start to bother them. Their belly would be very full and very tight and they would be fussy. I used 1/2 of a pediatric glycerin suppository and it worked great. Occasional use of a laxative (under direction of your pediatrician, of course), is nothing to be terribly concerned about! I really don't know what the difference is between my babies - all EBF for at least a year. Some were many times a day poopers and some were every two week poopers. They all seem to have perfectly healthy bowel habits now that they are older. There was such a range of normal, even within the same family!

 

From all that I have read, BF babies will usually have 4 or more BM's each day for the first month of life and some babies will have one with every feeding. After that the amount will usually slow down and by a couple months of age it can be normal for an exclusively BF baby to go a week or more without a BM. So if your newborn isn't pooping I'd call the pedi, but for a baby that is a few months old I wouldn't. Alicia would go 10 days without a BM and when she would finally go it was a LOT!

 

Dr. Jack Newman's book refers to a baby who went 31 days....

 

This is what I was thinking too.
I know both times I had newborns in the hospital the nurses were very interested to know how soon after delivery they'd pooped and at what point the poop changed from that frist black stuff (can't think of the name right now) to regular poop. I have a hard time imagining that hosptial staff would be okay with a baby not pooping in the first week of life.

 

I have the same issue!

One poops 3-4 times a day and the other once a week maybe. I have start giving him a 1/2 of a laxative when he gets really uncomfortable (usually every 7 days if he has not gone on his own). Other wise he is waking up in pain in the middle of naps and his night time sleep. The ped said as long as his tummy is soft and he is gassy he is fine. I am just trying to manage his pain and discomfort.